


Finally!

by ladydragon76



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-13
Updated: 2012-04-13
Packaged: 2017-11-03 14:41:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/382434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladydragon76/pseuds/ladydragon76
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>Summary:</b> Thundercracker is damn tired of the mess their trine is, and he's GOING to fix it.  Now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finally!

**Author's Note:**

> **‘Verse:** G1  
>  **Series:** None  
>  **Rating:** NC-17  
>  **Pairings:** Starscream/Thundercracker/Skywarp  
>  **Warnings:** Uh… OOCness? A little? A bit? Kinda? AU. Author doesn’t know what the Pit she’s doing…? More serious might be manipulative!Thundercracker?  
>  **Notes:** I got to page six (of 18) on this in Word, and realized I have NO IDEA what I’m doing. Was tempted to scrap the whole thing, have TC throw them in a room, and just do the damn deed. But! I was curious where it’d lead, so kept going. I have no excuse, I just hope it turned out entertaining. *hugz* This is a tfanonkink request fill, and you can find the request [here](http://tfanonkink.livejournal.com/7561.html?thread=7430793#t7430793)

Thundercracker stood at attention between two other Seekers. Skywarp he knew. They once had edged toward courting one another until Thundercracker realized what a jerk Skywarp was, and Skywarp realized that Thundercracker was ‘as exciting as watching melted slag cool. No, that was more fun, because at least sometimes it made awesome shapes.’

The other Seeker was Starscream. Everyone knew who he was. Everyone also knew what had just happened to the poor kid.

Way too young to lose both his trine mates.

It was possible for a Seeker to survive the loss of one bonded trine member. The two remaining usually clung to one another, comforted one another, and made it through recovery to find a third. It was an honor to be accepted as a third to an already bonded pair. Rare before the war really got going.

But to lose both and still be standing? No wonder Megatron’s optics were always on this one Seeker. He was strong in unseen ways.

Starscream stood, wings hiked, jaw clenched. The fresh welds still showed across his throat, right forearm, and left thigh where the shrapnel from his dead wingmate had sliced him. A just-visible tremor coursed through his frame in irregular intervals.

Thundercracker wanted to wrap him up in his arms, and sing him into recharge. He wanted to help him heal, though he knew it would take time. Thundercracker was under no illusions as to why they had been called here, and Starscream would be a good trine mate when he recovered.

Skywarp… didn’t seem to notice. Or maybe he was too wrapped up in gloating to himself about his own victories? Thundercracker bit back a sigh, and waited for Megatron to finish talking to Soundwave.

Megatron was everything they needed to end the oppression of the lower castes, but he failed to grasp other cultures. Failed to bridge the gap, and he had shown time and time again that he simply didn’t understand -maybe didn’t want to understand- the traditions Seekers lived by.

This left Thundercracker trying to figure out ways to reach out to Skywarp. Starscream wouldn’t be so difficult. They didn’t have a history or any dislike between them. He would find a way to make it work. Besides, he doubted Megatron was going to give them a choice.

“Do you know each other?” Megatron asked, approaching. Thundercracker and Skywarp nodded.

Starscream glanced at them, then rasped a quiet, “No, sir.”

“Well, get to know them. They’re your new trine mates.”

Starscream’s jaw dropped. “Sir! I just lost-“

“I am well aware of those other two fools dying. You survived, demonstrating yet again your skill and worthiness.” Megatron took a threatening step forward as Starscream’s mouth opened again. “Thundercracker and Skywarp have also captured my attention. The three of you as a trine will be unstoppable. Now go do whatever it is you jets do to get to know one another, and report in the morning to the training grounds. I expect to be impressed.”

Megatron left them without another word, Shockwave matching his stride to discuss whatever it was he’d been waiting off to the side for. Thundercracker watched Starscream’s mouth work silently, optics wide.

Thundercracker jolted as Skywarp’s hand impacted his shoulder. “Guess we’re stuck together anyway, huh?” His optics tracked out over Thundercracker’s wings. “I’ll just have to teach you to have fun. As for you,” he said striding over to Starscream. “Seen you fly.” He reached out, fingertips teasing across Starscream’s wing.

Starscream jerked back, hissing, optics narrowing. “Don’t touch me!”

“Get slagged!” Skywarp shouted back. “We’re supposed to bond. Let’s get on with it.”

“Skywarp,” Thundercracker said, stepping forward. “He needs time.”

“Megatron said-“

“I don’t care! What Megatron said!” Starscream clutched at his own throat, gasping. Thundercracker winced at the grating sound from the healing vocalizer.

“So you’re just going to disobey?”

“Skywarp!” Thundercracker pulled him back by his arm. “Starscream,” he began more softly, reaching out.

Starscream slapped his hand away, optics swimming, though he stubbornly refused to let the tears fall. “Stay away from me!”

“Geek!” Skywarp shouted at Starscream’s retreating form.

~ | ~

“Geek!” Skywarp shouted.

Starscream snorted, optics rolling. “How clever of you, Skywarp, to use the same insult for so very long. Keep at it. Maybe one day it will actually bother me.”

Thundercracker sighed, chin propped in his hand as he watched his wingmates argue. Again.

“Get fragged!”

“You first.”

“How ‘bout I just beat your stupid face in?!”

“Do it,” Starscream dared, scratchy voice dropping in register as he leaned forward, not in the least intimidated.

 _And why would he be?_ Thundercracker thought. Mech took beatings from Megatron. Nothing Skywarp could do would compare.

“Think I won’t?” Skywarp snarled.

“I’m waiting~” Starscream purred.

Thundercracker sighed again as Skywarp dove at Starscream. They crashed and clanged around their quarters. Skywarp’s new thing was swearing in English, so that got colorful, but of course Starscream insulted him back for even knowing the words. Completely hypocritical because Starscream knew the meanings too, but then… Hello. _Starscream._ Then he started belittling Skywarp with words even Thundercracker could barely glean the meaning of.

This really had to stop.

Thundercracker was too old to be without a properly bonded trine. He felt it as an ache in his spark. Through the vorns they had learned and become _very_ effective, but it wasn’t the same. And now here, on Earth, things were slipping away faster than Thundercracker could process. Primus! Those Aerialbots were defeating them! Some elite trine!

Something had to be done.

And there was only one way Thundercracker could think of to fix them all, and fix them fast.

~ | ~

Thundercracker had interfaced with both Skywarp and Starscream. Separately of course, because they wouldn’t touch each other. Even drunk, he couldn’t get them together! They’d snarled insults over his damn back!

Sexy, right?

Time for a new plan because this sucked slag, and those baby jets had blasted them out of the sky again.

So with Skywarp in the medbay, Thundercracker would make his play on Starscream first. Now.

“Star?” he said softly, kneeling down and resting his helm on Starscream’s thigh. What sucked the most slag? Yeah, he’d genuinely come to care for the glitches. He didn’t have to fake his worry or his need for comfort.

“It was his own fault!”

“I know.”

“When is he going to learn? Primus! He remembers he can teleport when he plays his idiotic pranks, but he can’t remember in battle when a missile is headed for him?”

Thundercracker was _sure_ he could hear worry laced through that sharp rasp, but he was also pretty sure he could be imagining it. Yay self-doubt! He almost backed out of his plan. “We’re fragged. You know that, right?”

“No, Skywarp is fragged. You followed orders, and came out with barely a scratch.” Starscream lowered a hand from his desk, caressing Thundercracker’s helm, then on to the small, fresh weld on his shoulder. His voice softened, and it made Thundercracker’s spark pulse in painful hope. “Hurt?”

He shook his helm, and heaved a sad sigh. “Not that.” He was laying the angst on a little thick, but Starscream didn’t react to half-measures.

Starscream sighed too, but stroked his hand over Thundercracker’s helm again. “He hates me,” he whispered, surprising Thundercracker with the emotion he could hear.

“He didn’t understand how much you were hurting back then.” Starscream’s hand stilled for a moment, and Thundercracker braced himself to fight past a rejection. When it didn’t happen, he continued softly, knowing he was treading dangerous ground. “It was wrong. What he did to us.”

“Megatron is often wrong,” Starscream said, but his voice lacked the usual manic rage.

“Wanted to hold you. Wanted to help you.”

“Thunder…”

Thundercracker looked up. “I did! I never expected to bond to you that night. I didn’t want to. You were grief-stricken. You should have had everyone there to coddle you, and feed you, and love you until you’d worked through the loss.”

Starscream looked away, optics shining. Thundercracker shifted up, hand cupping Starscream’s face to turn it back. “Instead, no one came near you for fear of looking weak to Megatron. And Skywarp… He’s so damn prideful, and I’m sorry. He shouldn’t have taken your grief as adamant rejection, but he did, and it’s been out of control for so long!” It was easy. _Too_ easy to let his optics burn, to let that single dramatic tear roll down his cheek. He felt guilty for it. He wasn’t normally manipulative, and didn’t like to be, but fraggitall he was _not_ letting this continue until one of them died by a lucky shot from a fragging _sparkling_!

Starscream wiped the tear away with his thumb, optics shutting. Thundercracker thought his spark might actually break as the first tears he’d ever seen from Starscream escaped his control. He half-stood, lips softly covering Starscream’s. They _could_ make this work. If they were just willing to try. “Please,” he whispered, sinking back down to bury his face in Starscream’s lap. The Air Commander liked being in charge. Thundercracker had learned he could bully Skywarp right back, but not Starscream. For Starscream he had to give a _lot_ before he could take, and the taking had to be on Starscream’s terms.

A sigh shuddered out of Starscream. “It’ll never work. I… care for you, but you must know-“

Thundercracker cut him off with another kiss, and soft sob. _Manipulative. He might be proud. Once he’s done slagging me._

The kiss deepened, Starscream’s hands gripping Thundercracker’s helm, pulling him to his feet.

“He’s going to hate us both,” Starscream whispered against his mouth. “More.”

“Then we don’t tell.” _Yet_ , Thundercracker added silently. “I need you. I can’t deal with this anymore!”

Starscream hushed him, pushing until they were both on the berth. Thundercracker submitted, hands going straight for the hot spots he’d come to know over the years.

“Thunder.” Starscream was shaking his head. “I don’t know-“

“Please!” Thundercracker clutched at him. “Primus! You have to know I love you by now! All this time, and I haven’t left.”

Starscream huffed, and shifted to the side. “And where would you go?”

Thundercracker let the truth color his voice. “Where wouldn’t I, if not for you?” He twisted, wings flicking back as he pressed himself back against Starscream.

Starscream gave him a very considering look, but his hands were still gentle. “Would you leave if I said no?”

Thundercracker dropped his helm, face hidden against Starscream’s chest plating. He bit his lip, tensing until he shook. “No!” He looked up when his face was sufficiently wet, and shook his helm. “No,” he repeated in a whisper, curling back down against Starscream.

“What brought this on suddenly? Why now?” Starscream rested his head on Thundercracker’s. “Please stop crying. You’re tearing my spark apart.”

That was something, right? That his visible pain could hurt Starscream? Maybe there really was hope? “We’re failing. We’re _fading_. We should be bonded. Should have been so long ago. Now sparklings are beating us out of the sky, and one of you is going to die, and-“ He cut off on another sob, not really having to force it as much. He wasn’t really making any of it up after all. He just had to get his floodgates open.

Starscream purred, holding him tight. “He’ll be furious. He fancies you his.”

“We don’t _have_ to tell him. How’s he going to know?” Thundercracker tipped his helm back, staring up with earnest optics. “I want you. For my bonded mate. I have for a long time. I wish you wanted me.” And there went the floodgates.

A harsh sob tore from him, and Starscream wrapped him back up in his arms. “I do. Primus. Please, Thunder. Please stop crying. You’re my stability. You’re my reason. How far will I fall if you break apart on me now?”

Thundercracker clung tight, shoved aside his embarrassment, and bawled. He felt tears drip down onto his audial. Starscream shook too. At some point a soft lullaby started up.

~ | ~

Thundercracker woke to soft touches, and feather-light kisses. He blinked into the darkness, hand moving over the familiar plane of Starscream’s wing. “Star?”

“I do… love you. I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want to drive you from me.” Starscream’s touches became more deliberate, and Thundercracker’s spark pulsed harder. “You’ve really always been there. Haven’t you?”

Guilt was a tight knot in his middle, and Thundercracker felt compelled to offer Starscream an out. “We don’t have to. It wasn’t fair of me-“

This time Starscream cut him off with a kiss, pulling back after a moment to murmur, “You’re right.” He huffed a short laugh. “Are you really going to back out now that I’ve admitted that?”

Thundercracker shook his head. “Just… Choose this because it’s right. Not because-“

“Please do shut up,” Starscream said, a genuine smile curving his mouth before he kissed Thundercracker again.

Thundercracker melted, spark pulsing harder. Finally! Finally he was going to have a bonded trine mate! He clutched at Starscream, settling on his back when pushed, cockpit glass retracting at Starscream’s light suggestive touch. He trembled, knees pulling up to hook over Starscream’s hips, moaning into the deep, claiming kiss.

He should be more in control. Less abandoned. He needed to tread carefully still, didn’t he?

All thought, all _everything_ stopped, however, when Starscream’s spark pulsed brightly between them. Thundercracker’s vents caught. “Star…” He watched as the crystal that protected Starscream’s spark slid away, leaving him bared and naked, vulnerable to Thundercracker.

“Please don’t have second thoughts now,” Starscream whispered.

Thundercracker looked up into his face. “So beautiful.” More light washed between them, and Thundercracker could _feel_ the pulse and heat of Starscream’s spark against his own. He cupped Starscream’s face, and pulled him down.

 _This_ he was sure of.

It was… everything poetic that a spark bonding should be. His sensornet lit with sensation. Fire burned in a perfect rush across his circuits. He could feel Starscream’s emotions, see flashes of memory. He knew the self-doubt. He knew the fears. He knew the dedication to their original cause, and why Starscream felt he had to pit himself constantly against Megatron. He felt pain, and joy, and love.

He felt it coalesce far too quickly between them, and cried out at the supernova blast of ecstasy that just wouldn’t stop echoing.

Starscream fell limp over Thundercracker, body shaking just as much as his own. He could feel a dampness as Starscream pressed his face against his neck cables. More, he could feel the ache of regret through the newly forged bond. It made his spark clench in fear.

“I’m so sorry,” Starscream said, vents hitching slightly. “I shouldn’t have waited so long.” He lifted his helm to look down at Thundercracker, optics a deep ruby glow, barely lighting his face. “Forgive me? I… You’ve been suffering so long.”

Thundercracker blinked. What had Starscream seen in him to bring this about? “It’s ok.” It was. They were bonded now, right? “Doesn’t matter anymore.” He sat, only pushing Starscream back enough that he could shift his wings out of the way before laying them both on their sides. “I’m yours now,” he said, holding tight and snuggling close.

They were being stupidly romantic weren’t they? Starscream didn’t seem to care, and burrowed in against Thundercracker without a sound of protest.

“We’ll have to be careful,” he whispered, and Thundercracker could feel a thread of worry.

“Improve slowly so no one suspects anything.”

“Yes,” Starscream said on an exhale, systems cycling down quickly into recharge.

Thundercracker fought the need for rest just a little longer, and enjoyed the brief moment of triumph. One bondmate down. One to go.

~ | ~

Thundercracker and Starscream were indeed careful the days following their bonding. Their working together improved, not due to the bond -it was too new to give them much more than a sense of the other’s emotions when they were touching- but due to Starscream just not _fighting_ everything Thundercracker said. Little things. Things no one else noticed.

Except Skywarp.

Thundercracker saw that calculating frown, and new he needed to make a play before Skywarp either figured it out, or all the sparking Starscream kept pinning him down for let them feel one another without touching.

He waited until he knew Starscream was on patrol and would be gone for a good long while.

Skywarp looked up as he slammed into their quarters. “What? Lover-boy finally drop the sweet act with you?”

Thundercracker took in the sneer, the tone, the carefully sprawled position. _I know you too good for that, Warpy,_ he thought. “Lover-boy?” he asked carefully. “That your problem lately? Just because I manage _not_ to fight with Screamer for a couple days, you feel the need to be a complete glitch in his place?”

Skywarp’s optics flared wide in poorly hidden surprise “I-“

“Or is it because your were a total idiot and got blasted out of the sky by the sparkling again?” Thundercracker paused, leaning in a little, letting something like disgust show on his face. “ _Again_.”

Skywarp floundered. He never did know what to do when Thundercracker was aggressive with him. “No. I just- I mean you-“

“Me?” Thundercracker stomped over to loom over Skywarp as he sat up, mouth still working. “Oh, this is about me?” He shoved Skywarp’s shoulder hard, then again, knee planting on the berth.

“What is with you?” Skywarp asked, confusion coloring everything from his voice to the set of his wings against the berth.

“What’s with _me_?!” Thundercracker demanded, swinging his other knee across Skywarp’s pelvis. He dropped forward, taking a little perverse delight in how Skywarp cringed as his fists hit the berth to either side of silver shoulder vents. “I’ll tell you what’s _with_ me. I’m fragging sick of this!”

Skywarp stared up, optics still a bit wide. “Sick of what?” he asked, voice almost hushed in the face of Thundercracker’s seeming anger.

“Sick of waiting! Sick of loving you, and getting nowhere! Sick of praying for the day you open your fragging optics and give a damn about something other than how to tweak Screamer’s temper!”

“You love me?”

Primus, he half sounded like a youngling in his surprise. Thundercracker heaved a sigh so he wouldn’t chuckle and just kiss the fool. “Why the frag else would I stay? You know my spark’s not in this war! You know how I feel about being here, running these pathetic raids. You know how I feel about Megatron doing everything he can to tempt Prime into combat just so he can slake his obsession a little longer.”

“Treason,” Skywarp whispered, optics getting impossibly wider.

Thundercracker snorted at him. “You think Soundwave doesn’t know?” He shook his helm. “Primus! Why am I even still trying?! You’ve made it damn clear for _vorns_ that you don’t want me!” He sat up, and made to climb off.

Skywarp’s hands grabbed at his hips, his knees coming up so fast they knocked into Thundercracker’s aft, and made him fall forward again. “No! Frag, TC! What- I mean… Holy slag!”

“Oh now you’re going to pretend you didn’t know? Get slagged, Warp! I know you’re not at all as stupid as you act.”

“I didn’t know you _loved_ … love… loved? Me?”

Thundercracker bit the inside of his lower lip, forcing a frown at that uncertain look and question. He sighed again, hanging his head. “Love. You idiot.”

“But I really didn’t know!” Skywarp pawed at him, trying to tug him down. “Thought you barely tolerated me! We’d decided not to court. I thought… I…”

Thundercracker opened his optics, and looked Skywarp in his. This part was easy. “I love you. I’ve been ready to bond to you for a long time. Since before we left Cybertron.”

“But Screamer-“

“What about him?” Thundercracker waited a moment, but Skywarp’s mouth just worked silently. “You know what,” he said abruptly. “I don’t need this. I don’t. Do me a favor though, for… Frag I dunno! Because you can. Give me an hour head start before you report me gone. Or just pretend it’s like one of your pranks, and don’t admit you know I abandoned the ‘Cons.”

Skywarp’s optics flared, real fear flashing across his face, and his hands tightened on Thundercracker. “What?! No! No, you can’t leave me! TC, I didn’t know!”

“And you do now. So what? Doesn’t change anything.”

“It does! Holy frag, TC, it changes everything!”

Thundercracker shook his helm and looked away, optics shutting again. Skywarp knew him well enough to spot guilt in his optics. _It worked out so well with Starscream_ , his mind whispered. “I don’t see how.” At least he didn’t have to fake how tight his voice was.

“Cuz I- Well, I- Aw, frag this! I love you, ok?”

Thundercracker shivered slightly at the words. This is what he wanted. Those were words he’d longed to hear from both of them for ages. “No you don’t.” Primus, he was being cruel.

“Yes! I do!” Skywarp sat, wrapping his arms around Thundercracker’s back, and looking up. “TC. I do. I really do. I just didn’t think you… ya know…” He shrugged.

Thundercracker sighed again, sadly, and shook his head. He waited, but it didn’t take long.

“Yes. I. Do!” Skywarp insisted. “Fraggit! I’m not stupid, remember? I think I know my own feelings! I just thought you didn’t want me like that. Sure, I’m fine for a quick overload, but that you actually _wanted_ me. For like, _more_? Damnit! Look at me!” Skywarp grabbed Thundercracker’s chin, and forced him to look down at him. “I can prove it!”

“Warp,” he began tiredly.

“No! If you love me, and I love you, then it’s stupid to keep wasting time! We should just fraggin’ bond already!”

Thundercracker’s optics went wide. “What?”

“We should bond! We should have a long time ago! I mean, slag, we’re Seekers! We should have been bonded way back in the beginning, but Screamer got all frigid, and you broke off the courtship. What the slag was I supposed to think?”

“Warp,” Thundercracker said, carefully modulating his tone, apologetic and caring. “Primus.” He scrubbed a hand over his face.

“I know right? So can we just fix it? Please?” Skywarp’s voice was taking on a desperate, pleading note, that never failed to hit Thundercracker right in his spark. But he knew Skywarp. He couldn’t just give in too easily, or it’d be suspect. Even if they both knew he was going to, that he wanted to.

“What about Starscream? We can’t just bond and leave him out of it.”

“So we don’t tell him.”

Thundercracker blinked, and shook his helm. “Can’t do that. How could we possibly hide a fragging _bond_ from him?”

“He’s not that smart.”

Thundercracker glared. “You know he is.”

Skywarp sighed. “Look, I know you-“

“No! No you don’t. What I want, more than anything, is a functioning, _whole_ trine! You never gave him a chance to heal before you pawed at him. What would you do if I bonded to you, then got killed?”

“Don’t say that.”

“I am saying it! You’ve been holding his grief against him from the start! I’m not saying he isn’t a slag-headed pain in the aft, but at least hate him for something besides being a grieving kid that’d just lost his bondmates. I bond to you, and he finds out, and then we are both gonna be better off in the Pits than where he can reach us.”

“I don’t… _exactly_ hate him,” Skywarp muttered. “Not that I get you defending him.”

“You think I could love you, but not him after so long?”

Thunderstruck. Apt term for Skywarp’s expression. “But… he’s _Starscream_!”

 _And I’m already bonded to him, and you’re going to see that love when we bond, so I better tell you now_ , Thundercracker thought. “So? Even with how we’ve treated him, even with how _you_ have treated him, he still steps between us and any threat to us. _Including_ Megatron!”

“He hates me!”

“Are you sure? Because until just a few minutes ago we didn’t even know the other’s feelings for each other.” Wait… No, that was right. Twisted wording, but… whatever.

“He doesn’t love me,” Skywarp insisted. “I mean… come on!”

Thundercracker shook his helm, trying to pull away again, letting some of the hopelessness he felt in ever pulling this off show on his face. “I can’t do this. I just… I can’t.”

“Why are you guys always rejecting me?!”

Thundercracker looked back, noting the wibble in Skywarp’s lower lip. Oh, Primus! Oh slag! He really would never pull this off if Skywarp cried! “I’m not,” he said as calmly as he could. “I’m trying to save you pain. I can’t stay here like this anymore, Warp. I’m not strong enough. I’m not like the two of you.”

“What? No! No, you are _not_ leaving me! You can’t tell me you love me, and then walk!”

Thundercracker hung his helm. “This is killing me, Warp,” he said honestly.

“Tell me what to do, TC. Tell me how to prove it. Tell me how to keep you now that I know. Please?”

That small sounding ‘please’ nearly broke Thundercracker down. He’d given himself as many days as he could to recover from the emotional overload of convincing Starscream to bond with him, but it plainly hadn’t been enough. He wanted to curl up in Skywarp’s arms. In his spark. “If we bonded… Primus, I’d be able to feel how much you hate him. That’ll tear me to pieces, Warp. You have no idea how much it hurts me when you two rip at each other. We’re supposed to be trine. We’re supposed to be _first_ to one another. I _need_ that. You two won’t… I don’t even know if you two _can_ give that to me anymore.”

“I’ll try!” Skywarp swore quickly. Thundercracker bit his lip, trying to keep his optics from welling up. “I will,” Skywarp said more seriously. “Bond with me, TC, and I promise, I’ll stop messing with him. I’ll do my best not to antagonize him, and I’ll try not to react when he baits me. I know I can be good if you help me.”

Oh his slagging spark was breaking! Crying wasn’t a part of convincing Skywarp, but Thundercracker had to fight hard against it. Visibly.

Skywarp pushed his way free, kneeling up in front of Thundercracker and grasping his hands. “TC. Thundercracker. Bond with me.” He released one of Thundercracker’s hands and trailed a fingertip down the side of his cockpit canopy. “Please bond with me? You’ve stuck with me this long.”

“Why not give you forever?” Thundercracker asked, lips twisting into a wry -and somewhat watery- smile.

Skywarp sensed his victory, and grinned. “Exactly.”

“We aren’t going to be able to hide it from Starscream forever.”

“We won’t have to,” Skywarp said, his confidence growing, hands beginning to map out Thundercracker’s frame. “We find our balance, then we set out to really seduce Screamer. He can’t resist both of us.”

“We’ll have to be careful.”

Skywarp smirked the smirk of the prankster that’d gone toe to toe with Rumble and Frenzy and come out the other side _not_ slagged for Megatron ending up hot pink with lime green polkadots. “Give me your spark, and I’ll tell you my plan.”

Thundercracker chuckled, unable not to, as always when Skywarp was using that tone and that look. “Devious fragger.”

Skywarp beamed, and lay back, his cockpit beginning to slide away. “You love me.”

Thundercracker crawled up over him. “Yeah, I do.”

Their lips met. Armor parted. Crystals retracted. Thundercracker held himself just far enough away to tease, then used his hands and mouth to drive Skywarp into a writhing puddle of keening, lusting, desperate, wanton Seeker. He was keyed up too, and so when he finally brought their sparks together, the charge was high, and only a few pulses threw them into a blinding overload.

Thundercracker flopped to the side, snuggling in close to Skywarp as they both reeled.

“Holy slag!”

Thundercracker just grunted in response. That’d been… pretty damn amazing. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected. It had been different, but not _that_ different from being with Starscream.

Skywarp shifted, curling on his side, and burrowing into Thundercracker’s arms. “We’ll be ok, TC. I promise.”

Thundercracker smiled, and kissed his bondmate’s helm. “I know.” He purred, listening until Skywarp was in recharge, then let himself drift off too.

~ | ~

Like most of Skywarp’s good pranks, the plan was simple, the execution a bit tricky -but nothing they couldn’t handle- and the payoff was pretty slagging worth the effort.

This time, more so than usual.

Thundercracker had been worried for a while that they would figure it out. Both were slightly suspicious of him not wanting to spark with them too terribly often. Luckily, part of Skywarp’s plan was for Thundercracker to ‘soften’ toward Starscream first, so any extra time Thundercracker spent with him wasn’t begrudged. Starscream believed that Thundercracker was playing nice with Skywarp so Skywarp wouldn’t suspect their bond.

So far, so good.

While Thundercracker ‘got closer’ to Starscream, Skywarp worked on acting like he didn’t hate him, and improving from there. Thundercracker told Starscream privately that Skywarp knew them both pretty slagging well. He could probably sense something. He added a confused shrug in for good measure, and suggested that maybe Starscream should try to get along with him. Maybe this was Skywarp reaching out?

He was pretty surprised when Starscream actually took the suggestion and ran with it.

Thundercracker was not at all used to these types of plots. He was quickly becoming a nervous wreck the closer and closer they all grew to one another. It was going almost too well.

Which is, of course, when he screwed up. It wasn’t time yet. He wasn’t sure they were ready. That _he_ was ready.

Starscream was on one side, and Skywarp the other, and Thundercracker was writhing with bliss between them. They’d teamed up on him, driving him to the edge in tandem. Thundercracker didn’t know which of them did it, but a fingertip stroked down his cockpit canopy, and it split as he begged. He didn’t know what he was saying at first, but it ended with, “Please! I need you! I love you!”

Of course by then his bondmates had both frozen, staring at him with strikingly similar expressions best described with the human term, ‘Oh shit!’

Thundercracker blinked, fought a cold wash of fear, and decided to just plow through. “Well?!” His laser core opened, sparklight spilling into the room. “Now!” he demanded.

It was actually kind of funny to watch both of them fumble to open up, and bump into each other as they tried to comply.

“What are you doing?” Starscream demanded, shocked into almost squeaking.

“What are _you_ doing?” Skywarp asked, optics comically wide in surprise.

Thundercracker slipped his hands around to the center of their backs and pulled hard. Both yelped, and he grunted from the sudden impact and weight. “Now,” he growled, pulsing hard with his spark, reaching for both of them.

He half expected both to pull back, but after only an instant’s hesitation _both_ of them returned the energy. Thundercracker moaned, holding tight. He threw everything he was into each throb of his spark. Pleasure coursed through him. Heat and need banded tight around his spark. He poured love and elation into the separate bonds, felt them blending.

“Primus,” someone whispered.

“Please,” someone gasped.

Thundercracker opened his optics right in time to see Starscream and Skywarp find one another’s mouths. His optics went wide at the sight. Lust and arousal flared. The universe stilled, then shattered from within him.

~ | ~

“Personally,” Starscream was saying, “I’m impressed.”

“He got us,” Skywarp replied. “Though I really might still slag him.”

“Oh definitely.”

Thundercracker smiled, then purred, peeking open his optics. He looked between his bondmates, and the smile grew into a proud, self-satisfied grin. “Mine,” he said, arms tightening around their waists.

Starscream huffed. “Lucky I love you.”

“No slagging kidding!” Skywarp jabbed a finger into Thundercracker’s middle, getting a grunt for the effort.

“Had to do something,” Thundercracker said.

“You manipulated us,” Starscream said, though his tone wasn’t quite accusing.

Thundercracker shrugged. “Didn’t lie.” He kissed them both, then snuggled down, wriggling on his back and trying to shift his wings despite his bondmates -oh yeah! He liked that!- lying on them. “Well, not about the important things.”

“No, only the part about already being bonded to the both of us.” Starscream nuzzled into Thundercracker’s neck.

“I would slag you so hard if I weren’t so damn proud,” Skywarp said. Thundercracker snickered, and Starscream humph’d an agreement.

“Slag me if it’ll make you feel better, but the only regret I have is not doing it sooner.”

The bond resonated agreement, and Thundercracker smiled happily. He wasn’t foolish enough to think there wouldn’t be some sort of payback, -hello! Starscream and Skywarp anyone?- but all he could think as he drifted off, warm and content between his trine mates, his _bondmates_ , was **_finally_**!


End file.
